Morbus X
by Mickis
Summary: The turtles, along with other captives, are brought to an underground prison where they're used for medical experiments. But one of the four brothers finds himself drawn to the very fire that holds him captive.
1. Prologue

**_Disclaimer:_** As the old fanfiction saying goes.... The ninja turtles doesn't belong to me. So please don't sue me and my empty wallet. But, I do own the original characters in this story, which will appear as the story goes on. So if you feel like borrowing them, please tell me first. I promise I won't bite.... hard. (Goes into creepy Austin Power's giggling).

_**A/N:** Hi'ya there folks! I know me starting a new story might not be so bright, with me not being done with my other ones. Well, on 'Estranged' I'm kinda stuck. Will probably pick it up later. But I've got the rest of 'Deputy Housekeepers' all mapped out. So for those of you who worry - don't. I'm very close to finishing it. Therefor I thought I needed something else to write when that story's gone, and as I've had this idea on my mind for a quite a while, and decided that my next story was gonna be an action adventure, I figured: Go for it! While I have the basics of the story written down (facts, plot, OC's etc.) I haven't written anything besides this yet. So I don't know when I'll update next, other then that I will. But I'll probably put up the next chapter for 'D.P' first. Okay, I think everything should be clear now, although I might've even confused myself there, for a while. Anyway. Please don't forget to review. We all love reviews, don't we?_

_**

* * *

**_

**MORBUS X**

by

Mickis

**Genre: **Action/Adventure/Romance

**Language: **English

**Rating:** PG13

**Summary:** _The turtles, along with other captives, are brought to an underground prison, where an __obsessive _millionaire use them for medical experiments. But one of the four brothers finds himself drawn to the very fire that holds him captive.

* * *

Prologue

The manhole cover budged slightly before a scraping sound followed, as it was pushed to the side against the asphalt by an unknown force from underneath it. A man with short dark hair and a scruffy beard peaked his head out of the hole in the ground, inspecting the alley for any threats. He then quickly climbed out of the manhole, supporting himself on one of his arms as he rose to his feet. He waved down the hole, gesturing that it was clear, before he ran out from the alley and into the dark New York City night, his black leather coat dancing around his legs.

Not long after that, another hand reached up through the manhole, grabbing onto the asphalt to heave himself up. His head was covered in dark brown hair, although there was a bald spot on the top of his skull. With his left arm holding onto the wet concrete, he used his other to pull up something very heavy, judging by the strained look on his face. He climbed another step on the sewer ladder and revealed, along with the rest of his black dressed body, a limp form that he lifted in one of its arms.

The man had finally climbed enough to get both his legs onto the asphalt and kept his face turned towards the sewer hole, where he now used both of his arms to lift the heavy body onto solid ground.

"Preparado?" he asked another person, still inside the man hole. After getting a clear sign, he pulled the creature in its arms, revealing a shell on the back of the motionless body, as another man, his head completely shaved, pushed the creature on its thighs from inside the man hole. As the man on the ground had dragged the figure deeper into the alley, where the shadows hid it from anyone that might pass by, he turned to look towards the entry of the alley, as if waiting for something.

Barely a minute after that, the bald man climbed out of the manhole with one arm, lifting another body with the other, as another man, dressed in a New York Rangers-cap, helped from below to push the limp body onto the ground. The figure's masked head titled to the side as the bald man dragged it in its arms towards the other body, its shell scraping against the asphalt.

The sound of a powerful engine filled the silent night, and as the bald man climbed down the manhole with his cap wearing friend, a large military green van backed into the narrow alley, keeping most of the street light from getting inside. The man who wore the leather coat jumped out from the driver's seat and slammed the door shut behind him. He quickly opened up the back doors to the van before he hurried off to help his friend that had been watching the bodies, lifting one of them in its chained ankles as the bald man carried it by its wrists.

The two of them walked over to the van and tossed the body inside, as the other two came out of the sewer with yet another identical body. The bald man climbed inside the back of the van and pulled the creatures hands behind its shell, handcuffing them. Then, as the other two went back down the sewer, he helped his friend carry the second body into the van, handcuffing that one, as well.

When they were done, they had four handcuffed creatures lying unconsious in the back of their van.

The man in the leather coat got back into the driver's seat and started the engine, as one of his friends got in from the other side. After the shaved man had locked up the backdoors, he got around to the left side of the van and slid the side door open.

"Vamos!" he called to the Ranger's fan, who put the manhole cover back in its place. Deciding he could wait in the car, he got in and slid the door shut behind him. His friend was only seconds later and got in on the opposite side, shutting the door in the same manner.

After the engine had fired up, the van quickly drove out of the alley, its tires screeching as it made a sharp left turn and drove off into the night.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Donnie?" There was a pause, through which he felt the ground beneath him vibrate a little. "Don, you awake?"

Donatello groggily opened his eyes, only to have his vision be replaced with more darkness. He felt like he had been sleeping for days. It was as if his mind and body wasn't connected to each other. Even his thoughts seemed distant. Slowly felt his body come to life as consciousness spread through it. He was lying on his back and, judging by the pressure he felt on his arms, he understood they were behind his shell. As his eyes got used to the new environment, he discovered a vertical stream of light to his left, only a meter away.

"Over here," Michelangelo said, sitting with his shell against a wall across from his brother.

Don tiredly lifted his head and faced forward towards the source of the sound, his eyes making out the black shape of his brother's seated silhouette. "Mikey?" he asked, even though he was fairly certain the voice belonged to his little brother.

"At your service," Mike answered, a relieved smile stretching his lips, knowing his brother was okay. Or at least one of them. He shifted slightly, feeling the handcuffs scrape against the skin on his sore wrists. "How're you feeling, bro?"

Donatello dropped his head backwards again, realizing his wasn't ready to do any neck push-ups this early after waking up. "Like someone just had a bachelor party in my head," he gruffed, facing the ceiling that appeared to be barely five feet away. Taking in a deep breath, he tried to get up from his lying position. But not only was that hard because he was a turtle on his shell, discovering his hands were handcuffed behind it didn't exactly make the task any easier. "What happened? Where are we?" he spoke through gritted teeth as he fought to get up. He pushed his palms against the cold surface underneath him and used his weak arms to slowly get into a sitting position.

"I don't know," Mikey shrugged, scratching the side of his head against his right shoulder. "Last thing I remember is getting shot in the bum, out of all the places to get hit. Well, _you_ should know. You were there, too," he added.

Donatello nodded in the darkness, recalling the sudden intrusion in their underground lair. Everything had happened so fast. There hadn't been anytime to react before the guns that had beenpointed at them were fired. "Sedative," he realised, whispering the word to himself. He looked up at the dark form sitting across from him; their faces five feet or so away from each other. "They must've drugged us."

"Most definitely. I don't think I've ever been this hungry," Mike said, glancing at his stomach. "And that should say something, coming from me."

Donatello smiled and nodded in the darkness. "We must've been out for quite a while. I feel like I'm dehydrated." Suddenly he felt the ground beneath him jump again, his body leaping slightly into the air. "We're in a car," Don realized, looking at his younger brother for confirmation.

"Yeah, they probably loaded us into the back of some van after we dozed off," Mike agreed, having thought of the solution during the short time he was the only one awake. "I actually got up when you were napping, but the doors seem pretty locked, if ya ask me. Oh, and before you say anything else, that's Raph and Leo right there." He pointed with his head towards two dark forms lying beside them, one on the right side of Don and the other across from him, on Michelangelo's left.

"What?" Don breathed in shock. "But I... I thought they were patrolling?"

"They were," Mike replied, looking back to his only conscious brother. "I guess those party poopers waited for them to get home. Although I don't know _how_ they knew there were more of us."

Donatello bitterly leaned his shell against the side of the van. "Probably for the same reason they knew where we live, or even exist, for that matter."

"For sure," Mike agreed, his eyes resting on the small ray of light coming from the back of the van, where the two doors were closed together. "How long do you think it'll be until they wake up?" He turned back to Donatello.

"I don't know," Donnie answered, glancing at the two bodies. "Depends on when they came back. Besides, I have no idea how long _we_'ve been out." He drew his legs closer to him, realizing he wore some kind of cuffs around his ankles.

Mike noticed his brother staring at his feet. "Surprise," he said with a smile, attempting a small joke. "I have a pair to match." He waggled with his feet, the steel of the chain clinking a little. "We'll be like the Dalton brothers."

"Yeah," Don agreed, looking up at Mikey, who now appeared clearer after his eyes had gotten used to the darkness. "Except we don't wear stripes."

"Naah, that's too cliché for me anyway," Mike shrugged, drifting off to silence when no answer came. He turned to look at his still sleeping siblings. "Who do ya think those guys were?"

"Wish I knew," Don said, shifting his prisoned hands behind his shell, trying to get comfortable in a situation that wasn't. "They weren't ninjas, that's for certain. And they didn't exactly look like SWAT's, either."

"_SWAT_'s?" Mike chuckled a little, causing his brother to look up at him. "Why would _SWAT team_ break into our home and attack my left ass-cheek with sedative?"

"How should I know?" Donnie answered, his tone of voice a little defensive. "Maybe you have a better suggestion?"

"Okay..." Mike took on the challenge and thought to himself for a moment, trying to come up with something that would sound more believable. "So maybe they _were_ from the government," he mused. "Only.. they need the four of us to save the world from an alien invasion!" His face lit up at the thought.

Don just looked at his brother, not even bothering to respond.

"What?" Mike squealed after a moment of silence. "It could happen."

"Right," Don said, shifting uncomfortably.

* * *

Half an hour later Raphael started stirring on the floor. He had gotten the luck of landing on his plastron, his right chin pressed to the bottom of the car, facing the back of the van. He had barely gotten to open his eyes before he heard his youngest brother's cheerful voice.

"Look who's up."

As Raph was about to push himself up with his hands, he discovered they were cuffed behind his shell, making it that much harder for him to get up. He lifted his head from the ground and looked at the spot from where he had heard Michelangelo's voice.

"The hell's goin' on?" he growled, his voice still sounding tired from the sedative, much like he felt.

"I got shot in the fanny by some Latin looking turtlenappers," Mike simply explained, as if their situation were as natural as the air they breathed. "What about you?"

Raphael recalled the series of events that took place before his body had succumbed to the drug in the shot. But he was quickly brought back to the present as the car jumped and he hit his chin on the unmerciful floor.

He looked back up at Mike, who's dark shape slowly took form before his eyes. "What the fuck's goin' on!" he demanded, not in the mood to play any games with his little brother.

"Long story short," Donatello spoke from Raphael's left side. "Four strangers broke into our home and ambushed me and Mike when we were watching TV. They shot us with something I presume was _very_ strong sedative and the next thing we know, we wake up here - in the back of this van."

Raphael rolled over to his shell and pushed himself up with his cuffed hands, like his purple clad brother had done earlier. "Did ya juz say 'van'?" he questioned, as if the statement would make more sense if he heard it a second time. He looked at his brother's silhouette, impatiently narrowing his eyes.

"Either that or some kind of transportation wagon," Donnie confirmed, nodding at the dark figure that was Raphael. "But they usually have different doors, " he added and pointed with his head towards the back of the vehicle, where a slim stream of light went all the way from the ceiling and down to the floor. "This looks more like the back a bus of some kind."

Raph tried to get onto his feet to somehow force the doors open, but that was easier said than done when both his feet were chained together.

"If you're going for the door.." Mike interrupted, causing Raphael to freeze in his very uncomfortable position. "I already tried that. We're stuck here."

Raphael sat back down in frustration, trying to make any sense of the new piece of information he had just been given, when he suddenly remembered something. "Where's Leo?" he looked in between his two present brothers.

"Right next to ya," Mike answered, pointing with his head to the motionless form of their Fearless leader, where he slept in the corner to Raphael's right, only a couple of feet away. "I'm guessing he was the last turtle standing," Mikey added, looking back at Raph.

"Yeah.. well, thanks ta me gettin' shot in the leg when I came down the ladder, at least _he_ got ta know we had visitors before they got 'im," Raph mumbled, pulling on his hands behind his shell, testing the quality on the handcuffs. Unfortunately they didn't feel very rusty.

"You saw them shoot him?" Donatello wondered, leaning slightly forward in interest.

"Well, no," Raph admitted, getting a little annoyed over the fact that Leo had lasted so much longer than he had. "But he's down, ain't he?"

Don nodded in disappointment. "I was just hoping we'd be able to calculate for how much longer he'll be asleep."

Raph nodded in understanding, his hands relaxing behind his back. "So, any idea where this bus is headin'?"

"I had secret government mission," Mike answered, leaning back against the wall of the car. "Only Donnie here didn't agree." He pointed with his head towards the turtle in front of him.

"I wonda' why.." Raph mumbled, his shoulders slumping. "Man, I hate crowded places." He looked around his dark prison, trying to figure out exactly how big it was.

"Don't worry, Raph," Don said, getting the restless turtle's attention. "I don't think these walls will be closing in on us anytime soon." He and Mike chuckled a little, causing Raph to furrow his brows in irritation.

"Yeah, real funny," he grumbled, stretching his legs so they reached out in between the other two. "I'm juz sayin' I could think of otha' places I'd rather be, instead of locked up in the back of some truck with the two of yous."

"Three," Don corrected, referring to the still sleeping turtle.

"The longer he stays out - the better," Raph said, glancing at the limp form next to him. "This cozy little van ain't big enough for the both of us."

With that statement out in the open, the other two instantly knew they were in for a rough ride.

"Let's just hope we'll get there soon," Mike said, leaning his head against the wall in defeat.

"Wherever 'there' is..." Donnie added, staring aimlessly into the darkness that surrounded him.

* * *

Hours later, Leo had been awake from quite a while and the four brothers had watched as the faint stream of light coming in from the doors grew dimmer, until all they could see was darkness. In spite of Michelangelo's earlierattempt to get the doors open, Raphael had dragged himself over there and kicked them with his feet, while lying in his back. But no matter how hard he kicked it wouldn't open and the four ninjas had to face the fact that they weren't going anywhere their captors didn't want them to.

They were trapped.

Michelangelo had fallen asleep, leaned against the wall with his head lolled to the side. It wasn't that he hadn't gotten enough sleep, it was just that the lack of food was starting to get to him. And besides, there wasn't much else to do, other than watching Raph as he tried to break free from his handcuffs, something he did every few minutes.

Donatello was staring at the backdoors, hopelessness beginning to claim him. At least when Mikey had been awake he could focus on ignoring his bad jokes. He caught Leo staring at him from where he sat next to Michelangelo.

"What?" Don asked, instantly recognizing the look his oldest brother had when something was bothering him.

"Nothing," Leo said, breaking away from his eyes. "I was just thinking."

"About.." Donnie pushed, shifting his hands behind him in another attempt to get comfortable.

Raph, who had been working on his cuffs, discreetly looked up at Leonardo to his right. As no answer came from their leader he joined in on the conversation. "Hey!" Leo turned to look at him. "Spill it," Raph said simply.

"It's just..." Leo sighed, leaning his head backwards against the wall. "I don't think this would've happened if Master had been alive."

Raph fell silent, realizing his brother had gone into another one of his 'I'm not good enough to lead this clan' funks.

"Why do you say that?" Don asked, carefully studying his brother's face in the darkness.

Leo shook his head, still facing the ceiling. "He would've known when they came, he would've been more prepared."

"We got ambushed," Raph suddenly said, earning a short glance from his brother in blue. "What's there ta prepare for?"

"It's not only that," Leo then said, looking in between Don and Raph. "They knew where we lived. They came prepared to bring us down. You both know Sensei would've never blown our cover." He leaned against the wall again, staring at the back of the van. "We haven't been cautious enough since he passed away. We should've known to stick to the shadows at all times."

"Leo, we're ninjas, not magicians," Don interjected, trying to reach through to his brother. "I know you hate making mistakes, but everyone does." He paused for a moment, glancing at Raphael. "Not even Splinter was flawless. You can't beat yourself up over this. It's not your fault."

"Isn't it?" Leonardo questioned, staring at him from across the van.

"Dammit, Leo! Enough with the self loathing!" Raph suddenly exclaimed, earning both of his brothers' attention. "We're old enough ta make our own mistakes, y'know. Ya can't keep babysittin' us like this."

"He left the responsibility to me, Raph!" Leo yelled back, his voice loosing some of its calm. "As the leader of the clan, it's my job to keep you safe. Being kidnapped by complete strangers doesn't exactly fall into that category."

"So?" Raph shot back, unconsciously moving a little closer to his brother as he addressed him. "It's not like things never happened when he was alive. I don't rememba' _him_ beatin' himself up about it like _you_ do. And even if he did, at least he had the decency ta do it in private. Get over yerself already!"

Leo only glared at Raphael, the expression on his face letting the others know that this time, Raphael had really hit home with his comments. Sure, Raph was never one to think before he spoke, but what he said was often very true. Only the truth was a little hard to accept, especially with the way he delivered it.

Donnie glanced at Michelangelo,a little surprised he was still sleeping. He turned back to the others. "Maybe you should get some rest," he suggested in an attempt to break them up. "I'll take first watch."

"No," Leo said, turning to look at Donatello after a moment. "There can't be that much farther left. Maybe you should get some sleep. You've been awake a lot longer than I have."

Donatello's eyes wavered in between his two older brothers. Sleep did sound very good. But leaving the two of them alone...

"We won't argue," Leo said, reading his brother's body language. "Right, Raph?" he added, without looking at his red masked brother when addressing him.

"Right," Raph said, his voice still a little tense.

"All right," Don folded, nodding in the darkness. "Just... wake me up if something happens." His two brothers nodded in sync with each other. Donnie gave a small nod and leaned himself against the wall, putting his tired head to rest. He closed his eyes and allowed his thoughts to drift off along with the vibration of the van, the humming sound of the engine calming him. Only a few minutes later - he was asleep.

* * *

"Mikey, Don," Leo said, nudging his orange masked brother with his right shoulder. "Guys, wake up."

Michelangelo tiredly opened his eyes, realizing his hands were cuffed behind his shell as he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "Wha..?" he mumbled, trying to see anything in the darkness. "When did I fall asleep?"

"What is it, Leo?" Don asked, groggily peering at his oldest brother. "How long have I been asleep?"

"We've stopped," Leo revealed, his voice holding a dead serious tone.

Don quickly realised the car wasn't moving anymore, as the constant sound of the large engine had stopped. Neither could he feel any vibrations in the floor. "What?" he questioned, his eyes widening with worry. "When?"

There was the sound of sliding doors opening on the other side of the wall. "Juz now," Raph said, narrowing his eyes at the exit of the van.

All four of them sat up straight when they heard two car doors closing, as if someone had slammed them shut. Then there was a sudden jump of the car as the sliding doors closed, footsteps scraping on the outside.

"This is it," Leo whispered, his body tensing. "Get ready."

"For what?" Mikey thought outloud, earningannoyed glares from the others. "What? It's not like we'll be able to do anything."

"Schhh.." Leo hissed, turning back to the door as the familiar sound of a key being turned inside a lock filled the silence.

The four of them intently stared at the backdoors as someone turned the two handles on the other side, preparing themselves for a confrontation with enemies they didn't even know they had.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The doors to the van that had been their prison finally opened and on the other side stood a short man who wore his head shaved. He was dressed all in black and had a loathing grin plastered on his face as he held the bus doors open with both arms.

"Usted estaba correcto, Carlos!" he yelled, looking over his shoulder to address one of his friends. He then turned back to his four prisoners, who glared at him from inside the van. "Son despiertos."

Another man, wearing a New York Rangers cap, walked up from around the car and peered over his bald friend's shoulder, staring at the four turtles as if they were expensive paintings - _stolen_ expensive paintings. "Si, pero me gustó de ellos mejor cuando eran inconscientes." The two of them laughed, as if it had been a joke. Somehow all four turtles knew it had been at their expense.

The bald man let go of one of the doors and stepped aside, his three friends standing just near by. "Vamos!" he cried, staring at his four paintings as if it had been an order. As he got no reaction from them, he started waving with his right arm. "Get out! Get out!" he urged, angrily waving his arm for the group of turtles to exit the van.

Donatello glanced at Leonardo before he folded out his legs, scootching himself towards the exit with his chained feet. The man who wore the cap grabbed a hold of the back of his neck as he reached the end of the car, pulling him out of it. Don set his feet on the ground, enjoying the ability to be able to stand straight. The man quickly grabbed a hold of the small chain that held the handcuffs together, holding a firm grip on Donnie's shoulder as he led him away from the car and his brothers, into the dark night that had fallen upon them when they had been inside the van.

The others followed their brother's example and left the safety of their prison, bitterly walking in front of their kidnappers as they held them tightly from behind them. However, Raphael was always one to test his boundaries, and as he had been the last one out of the van he figured they wouldn't count on him doing any resist, since his brothers had obeyed their orders. Once Raph was down on the ground, his feet landing on the cold gravel beneath him, he sent his right elbow into the man's stomach as he was about to grab him.

The man doubled over in shock, grabbing onto his stomach; hissing in pain. The sound earned the other's attention, both men and turtles turning around.

Leo swore under his breath, knowing Raph would pull some kind of stunt. They had definitely learned their lesson back at the lair about not messing with these guys. And this situation wasn't any better. They were cuffed, chained and unarmed, in comparison to these guys. The only thing they had been left with were the bandannas around their heads, probably so the kidnappers would be able to tell the difference between them.

The same guy that held onto Leo quickly pulled up a billy club from inside his leather coat; dragging Leo with him as he took the few steps that parted him from Raphael.

Raph grinned, the sparks in his eyes gleaming in the darkness. He was just about to plant his elbow in the injured guy's face as he heard his older brother's warning.

"Raph!"

He quickly turned around, although not fast enough to avoid the club that slapped him across his neck, hitting him with such force that he fell over, landing on the side of his face for not being able to break the fall with his hands, cuffed behind his shell.

"Esteban!" the man holding the club yelled at his friend, who rose to his full length, still holding his stomach with one of his arms. "Idiota!"

His friend lowered his head in shame as the other guy glared at him, his eyes switching from a collapsed Raph to his dumbfounded partner in crime. Without another word said, he shoved the billy stick into the other guy's stomach, before grabbing onto Leo's shoulder again, walking towards the others.

The man looked at the silver colored club in his hand for a moment, before bending down and grabbing Raphael by his neck, forcing him back up on his feet. He then moved his right hand down to one of Raph arms, clutching it just above the handcuffs, while holding the billy in his left hand as he stepped in behind the his red masked prisoner. "Move it!" he ordered with a strong Spanish accent as he pushed Raphael forward, catching up with the others. "Monstruo," Raph heard him mutter under his breath and even though he didn't know any Spanish, he had a pretty good idea about what he said.

_Funny_, Raph thought to himself as he walked. _No matter what language ya say it in - that fuckin' word still sounds the same. _

As they walked, Raph carefully studied his surroundings, trying to figure out where they were. He could see the road they had been driving on a few minutes earlier, about fifteen meters away from where the dark van was parked, right in the middle of nowhere. But the road didn't have any source of light and so therefor everything surrounding them was very dark, although not as dark as it had been in the car. Raph tried to make out as much as he could. It looked like a desert. There weren't any trees, aside from a few bushes here and there, and he even thought he saw a couple of cactuses, or at least the silhouettes of them. Everything seemed abandoned. And the direction they were headed to, farther and farther away from the road, didn't seem to have any destination. It was as if they would be walking for hours before they would reach anything at all.

Raph figured the car had brought them south. He almost thought it looked like Mexico, but he didn't think they would be able to cross the boarder with four walking, talking turtles locked up in the back of the van. Still, it had to be pretty far south. Although as they walked there in the darkness, the only name that seemed right for this place was 'No Man's Land.'

Raphael shuddered as a screaming wind blew past him, pulling on the tails of his bandanna and flapping them next to his face. He was a little surprised by how cold it was. He had always imagined going south would equal in getting hotter. But then again, there wasn't anything around to absorb the warmth of the sun. So when the night came and the sun disappeared, the moon could only do so much to keep them warm.

"Faster!" the guy ordered from behind him, hitting him with the club on his shell, of all the places to hit a turtle.

Raphael angrily pulled on his arms, gritting his teeth in frustration. He couldn't walk much faster than this. The stupid cuffs they had chained his ankles together with forced him to take baby steps. He had already stumbled four times. And just a few minutes earlier, Mikey had collapsed to the ground for taking a step that had been too long. The resistance of the chains had stolen his balance and made him trip over. The guy who held him had yelled something in Spanish at him and pulled him back up. Since then, it had been completely quiet.

Raph looked ahead at his brothers. Don was walking up front, Mikey behind him and after that Leo and finally himself. The distance between each of them was only eight feet or so, which felt nice. None of them liked the thought of splitting up.

* * *

After they had walked for about an hour, the man holding Donatello suddenly stopped. This alarmed Don, because they hadn't been given any breaks, not even stopping for a second, so wherever they were heading to, they must have gotten there now. Although, looking around himself he couldn't see anything. At least not anything that looked different from the rest of the desert they had been walking through.

"Javier!" the man holding onto Donnie called, turning around and looking at his friends. "Estamos aquí?"

"Si," the man holding Leo answered, nodding from behind him. Since this was all they had said to each other during the entire hour, the turtles instantly knew there was something special about this place.

The one who held Donatello waited for his comrades to catch up and as they did, all four of them stared at the bush in front of Don as if it was made out of pure gold. They swiftly nodded at each other before the guy holding Don let go of him with one of his hands and grabbed onto the three feet high bush and lifted it. Although the result of it wasn't one none of the turtles had expected. The bush was attached to a wooden bottom, which followed the bush as he lifted it, only a couple of centimeters into the air. Then, he swiftly let go of it, the heavy wooden board making a thumping sound as it hit the ground, a thick fog of dust blowing up in the air around the bush.

The man kicked aside the board with his foot, only to reveal a black hole in the ground, one that the bush had been hiding. The hole was around the same size as the manholes back in New York, ironically. And as Don looked closer he discovered there was a wooden latter leading down it.

He glanced at Leonardo, who seemed as shocked as he was, before he turned back to the hole, trying to estimate how deep it was.

"Get in!" the man ordered, pushing Don towards the hole.

Don stopped only inches before the edge and turned back to his captor, using only his eyes to remind him that he was handcuffed. The man only smiled mockingly before he pushed Don into the hole, laughing at the loud thud that came as he hit the bottom.

His three brothers worriedly stared down the hole to see if he was okay. He laid on his plastron, his feet resting on the bottom step of the ladder. Don tiredly turned his head, trying to recover from the blow to it. Lucky for him, the hole wasn't that deep, a little more than two meters, although it definitely felt like much deeper than that to his head, that was quickly developing a mind blowing headache. But he was quickly brought back to the task at hand as he heard his four captors laughing from above, obviously enjoying his pain. Donatello weakly got back up on his feet, realizing the tunnel was big enough for him to stand in. He looked back up at the others, witnessing the worry on his siblings' faces transform into relief, seeing he was okay.

"Step aside, you stupid tortuga!" the bald man called down to him, exchanging a few more laughs at the expense of his pride. But, knowing his brothers would be the next to drop in, Donnie did as he was told and backed a couple of feet away, witnessing Leo fall hard to the ground before him, landing on his side with a pained look on his face.

"You okay?" Don carefully whispered, wishing he had a hand to offer him.

Leo nodded, his eyes still tightly shut. He turned towards the wall of the tunnel, pressing his shell against it and pushing himself up.

Don stepped up to him, doing a quick check for any serious head damage. However, Leo's eyes seemed very alert; watching Don as he watched him. The oldest turtle nodded to let his younger brother know he was okay.

"Enough you two!" the Ranger's fan yelled at them, his English more fluid than the others. He peered down the dark hole. "Move it!"

As soon as the two had stepped aside, the next turtle came crashing down - Michelangelo. He had tried to land on his feet, but as the guy pushed him from behind just as he was about to jump down, Mike hit his chin on the edge of the hole, where rock hard ground made his jaw slam shut. He sat on his rear with his shell against the ladder, moaning in pain as he felt his chin swell up from the impact. The laughter from his enemies echoed in his dizzy head.

His brothers angrily glared at the bullies, even Raph who stood among them. If it hadn't been for the fact that most of his body parts were cuffed, he would've beaten them to death right then and there; leaving them out in the desert for the vultures to eat.

Mike amazingly enough got onto his feet before they had a chance to yell at him for standing in the way and stumbled over to his brothers, the chains around his ankles scraping against the dirt on the ground as he did. He was met with two concerned faces in the darkness but he simply nodded to let them know it wasn't anything serious.

The four kidnappers were still laughing at Mike's jumping accident; thus failed to push Raphael as he jumped down the dark hole to his brothers, the only turtle to have the luxury of landing on his feet.

"Ey!" the bald man called, pointing at Raphael and smiling at his friends. "El profesional!" He pointed and laughed with his partners, before the guy wearing the leather coat climbed down the ladder.

Once down, he pushed the turtles deeper into the tunnel.

The tunnel actually turned out _not_ to be one, instead it was simply a big hole in the ground; the size of a small room. Although it was hard to tell in the almost pitch black darkness. The four turtles subconsciously gathered up together at the far end of the underground cave, feeling safer together, and not only because the number four was bigger than one. They were the only thing familiar to each other in this place and they knew from experience that they were strongest together. If not, they had certainly learned that the hard way when Splinter passed away, only one year ago.

As all four of their captors had climbed down the hole and closed the opening behind them, one of them bent down and fetched a lantern. As he lit it Donatello knew it hadn't been filled with paraffin by a coincidence. Someone had put it there for them to use. They had planned this much longer than he had thought. Probably for months, if not longer. They simply knew too much to be making the decisions along the way.

Their guards sat down together, two of them warming themselves up under two shabby looking blankets that, just like the lantern, only happened to be there. They leaned against the dirty wall, starting out a small conversation in Spanish with each other.

Meanwhile the four brothers started to inspect their surroundings, now that the lantern lit up the most of it. The cave was indeed not that big, yet it was plenty of room for the eight of them, without any reason to feel like it was crowded. Or perhaps it felt bigger because of the tiny van they had been forced to sit in for hours and hours. As the shadows danced across the dented walls they realized the cave didn't really have any corners. It was almost shaped like an egg, with the ladder leading up to the surface placed at the egg's top. Something else that quickly caught their attention was the blue cooler bag that stood on the ground next to Carlos, as the bald man had called him when he first opened the doors to the van.

They had definitely planned this. Perhaps they had been taken to this little cave to hide over the night? Why else would there be any need for food?

Finally, the guy in the leather coat, whom they remembered the bald guy had called Javier, looked up at them where they stood on the other side, across from them. "Sit down, eh," he said, in a much friendlier tone than what they had expected. "You're not going anywhere, si?"

Leo saw Raphael tense at the remark in the corner of his eye and carefully nudged him with his left elbow, letting him know he didn't approve of any more stunts. Raph shot his blue masked brother a glare before he sat down with the rest of his brothers, leaning his shell against the very uneven cave wall, which turned out to be much harder than it appeared.

As all four of them were seated and calm, their kidnappers returned to their Spanish conversation. Every now and then one of the turtles recognized a word, whether it was a common phrase or something they had just heard on TV, but they knew far too little to make any sense of what they were discussing. Even if they _had_ known the language better, they talked much too fast for them to understand the bigger picture of what they were saying.

* * *

About half an hour later, the one called Javier turned to look at them, an amused look on his smooth features. "So, tortugas," he said, a mocking tone on the last word. "Tell us a little about yourselves, will ya?"

They stared back at him in silence, pretending they didn't know what he was talking about.

"Come on," Javier pushed, his Spanish accent very deep. "Don't be shy. We won't hit you unless you do anything wrong." He laughed with his friends, apparently thinking what he said had been very funny.

"Fine," the man with the shaved head said, holding up his hands in defeat. "We will go first. I am Pedro," he introduced himself and pointed to his chest with both hands. "This," he put his right hand on the person next to him, "is Javier. And the person over there.." He pointed to the guy sitting at the far right with the cooler bag next to him. "That is Carlos." He waved for the turtles to introduce themselves next, when he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, I forgot. That's Esteban," he introduced the final guy, who overall looked a little older than the rest, with the bald spot on his head. Most of them seemed to be in their twenties somewhere, in difference to Esteban, who appeared to be well over thirty.

"Now," Pedro continued, waving at the four prisoners across from him. "Your turn." The four of them eagerly waited for one of the turtles to answer. After thirty seconds of silence had passed they realized they weren't planning to.

"C'mon," Carlos said, his English very fluid compared to his friends. "We know you speak English. We heard you right before we dropped in on you in the sewers. You were talking like crazy then. Especially you," he said and pointed to Michelangelo.

Mikey glared back at Carlos, not bothering to answer. Even if he wanted to it would probably hurt too much. He felt his chin had gotten very swollen, even if he couldn't actually touch it.

"I know a way that might get them to talk," Pedro said, reaching inside his black coat with his right hand. As the hand came back he held a black gun in it, pointing it at Mike, who's eyes widened in terror.

He knew about that gun. Last time he saw it, he got hit in one of his buttocks and fell asleep for what he suspected was a very long time.

"You recognize this, si?" Pedro questioned, an evil smile curving his lips as he waved the gun in the air.

"If I were you, Baldy, I'd point that thing at someone else," Raphael threatened, not being able to stay quiet anymore. The line had been crossed the moment that guy drew his gun on his little brother.

"Baldy?" Pedro repeated, laughing as he turned to his three friends. "Silly tortuga," he said, turning back to Raph and pointing the pistol at him instead. "You are not one to talk about bald. At least _I_ have _chosen_ to shave off my hair." He lifted his gun a little higher, aiming at Raph's face.

"I ain't afraid a' that thing," Raph growled, starring his enemy in the eye.

"No?" Pedro questioned, titling his head. "I can assure you getting shot in the head is much worse than getting shot in the thigh."

Raphael never broke his gaze, as if he was willing to test his theory. However, right in the middle of their staring contest, the board that kept the cave hidden, moved. Some gravel fell into the pit as someone pushed the wooden board with their foot.

They kicked it open.

Everyone in the cave turned their heads towards the entrance, wittnessing another one get tossed inside.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A man with thick, curly, dark brown hair cradled in pain on the bottom of the pit, pulling his body into foetal position. He soon lifted his head from the ground, revealing a nasty bruise on his left cheek, probably from the fall. When looking up at the others sitting in the cave, his small, brown eyes widened in shock.

"Mi Dios!" he breathed, staring at the turtles where they sat huddled at the other end of the cave.

"Date prisa!" a man yelled from the surface, kicking some dirt down onto the man's back.

The man tore his eyes away from the four mutant turtles and pulled himself up with the help of the ladder leaning against the cave wall, using his chin as a replacement for his hands. When he finally stood his tall ground, they could tell he was about five feet eight with a solid built. He wore a pair of dirty, beige jeans, along with a black T-shirt that sat fairly tight on his chest. He stumbled inside the cave, both his feet and his hands cuffed, never setting his eyes off of the turtles over by the left side of the cave. He hadn't even seemed to noticed the four other men in there, one of them still holding the tranq gun in his hand.

Had it not been for the fact that he was chained just like they were, they would've guessed he was one of them. Because he definitely had Latin origins. He appeared to be in his thirty's but looked fairly good for a man of his age. As the light from the lantern finally reached his entire form, the turtles noticed he had a large golden cross hanging around his neck, bouncing off his chest as he stumbled inside.

Pedro finally lowered his gun from Raphael and looked at their new prisoner as if he was a walking million dollar check. "So," he said, finally earning the stunned man's attention. "You're the Phinehas?" he mused, looking him up and down. "Samson will be pleased," he said, glancing at Javier sitting on his right. He then turned back to the guy. "Have a seat," he said, motioning with his hand towards the empty space next to Esteban on his left.

Phinehas, as Pedro had called him, suspiciously eyed him before stepping over next to Esteban to sit down, although as he was about to, Esteban sent his foot into his lower legs, causing him to lose his balance and fall flat on his face.

The guards laughed at the prank as Phinehas lifted his head from the ground; spitting soil out of his mouth. "Monstruo," Pedro spat at him, before he turned his attention to another guy that came climbing down the hole. "Ah, Antonio!" he greeted. "Bienvenido! Qué tal?"

"Bien," Antonio answered as he closed the entrance to the cave. "Hambre?" he questioned, holding up a plastic bag in his right grip.

"Si," Pedro smiled, pushing at Esteban next to him to make room for his friend. "Pase." He pointed to the empty seat next to him.

Antonio adjusted his black ponytail and stepped over the fallen prisoner on the floor, as if he was a puddle of water. He then sat down with the rest of his friends and started talking to them, once again returning to Spanish.

Donatello studied the man who tried to get up from the ground, although he could only manage to get into a sitting position. "Are you okay?" Don asked quietly, looking at him with concern in his eyes.

Phinehas instantly turned to look at Donnie once he realized he had spoken to him. "You... you talk?" he murmured, his small eyes not looking so small anymore.

"Don't you?" Don questioned, trying to offer him a friendly smile, because that man was just a prisoner like themselves. Although for what reason, he still didn't know.

Phinehas only gaped at the turtles, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"Hey!" Raph snapped, glaring at Phinehas. "Enough with the staring, a'right?"

Phinehas mutely nodded, lowering his eyes in apology. "Sorry," he said, carefully looking back up at Raphael.

Don pointed with his head to the empty spot next to him, offering some company to the loner. Phinehas nodded a few times before he scooched over next to Donnie, looking both curious and afraid.

As soon as he had seated himself among the turtles, Pedro looked up from their loud conversation, staring at the prisoners across from him. "Aww, look," he said, causing his friends to look up at the others. "The freaks are bonding." They all laughed at his comment.

Raphael narrowed his eyes in anger, knowing the guy had said it in English only so they would understand the insult. Pedro noticed the look Raph sent him but only grinned and ignored it, reached inside the bag Antonio had brought, pulling up a carton of chicken wings and patting his friend on the shoulder for his choice of food.

Mikey felt his stomach rumble. Sure, he had never been a guy for chicken; too much bone and not enough food. Bur right now he felt like he could go for anything, only to dump _something_ in that empty stomach of his.

Javier noticed Michelangelo staring at him as he bit into the meat. "Don worry, tortuga," he said, putting his chicken wing aside and motioning for Carlos to hand him the cooler. "We have not forgotten about you." He opened the plastic box and reached inside it, pullingout two old, although very big sandwiches. He tossed them across the cave to Mikey, who could do noting but watch as the old sandwiches landed before him. He looked at Javier, who only laughed and picked up his chicken wing again, before he turned back to the sandwich, that wasn't only covered in dirt, but both the bread and the cheese had a good case of penicillin. Still, Mike had to eat and bent forward, picking one of them up with his teeth, only causing their enemies to laugh even harder.

"Patético," Antonio said, reaching down his bag for a bottle of water.

Leo angrily glared at the bullies as they ate their food; leaving his baby brother to eat a rotten old sandwich off the ground.

"Hey, Mikey," Raph said from where he sat on Michelangelo's right, causing Mike to look up at him with the sandwich held in between his teeth. "Try it this way," he said and reached over for the other sandwich with his teeth, sitting up straight with it in his mouth. He then drew up his legs to his plastron, pinching the sandwich in between his knees; making up for the hands he couldn't use.

Mike quickly followed his example, placing the sandwich tightly in between his knees and biting into it, ignoring the bad taste it had. It was food and he knew he had already gone without it for too long. How long, he didn't know.

Carlos swallowed the food in his mouth and slapped Javier on his shoulder, both of them looking up at the two eating turtles.

"Oh?" Javier mused, crossing his arms. "Maybe tortugas have brains, after all." All five men laughed and Antonio reached inside his bag for another bottle of water.

"Let's see how you solve this," he said, tossing the bottle to Leo. Without him being able to catch it, the bottle hit him square in the plastron, bouncing off of him and landing a few feet away.

Leo knew they weren't doing it out of concern. They simply found it entertaining how they fought and worked for the food. But he wasn't about to give up the bottle of water because of it. They needed water to survive. He had no idea how long they had been out, perhaps for days. And the cold walk though the desert hadn't exactly helped. So he moved closer to the bottle, clutching the cork with his teeth. He lifted it off the ground and moved back against the wall, in between Donatello and Raphael. There, after casting a glance at his captors, he drew his legs up to his plastron like his brothers had done and placed the plastic bottle in between them. Then he started working on the cork, slowly unscrewing it with his teeth, so it wouldn't slip away. Soon he had the cork in his mouth and, after spitting it to the ground, he clenched his teeth around the top of the bottle; closing his mouth over it and leaning his head backwards, allowing fresh water to run down his throat.

Antonio and Carlos applauded at the small stunt he had performed, although it was more out of mocking Leonardo than anything else.

Leo ignored them and set the bottle back in between his knees, turning towards Donatello to his right so he could have some. Don followed his older brother's example and grabbed the bottle with his teeth, holding his head back to drink some. After he was done he passed it over to Phinehas, who smiled gratefully.

"I'll wait till after the others have had their share," he said, nodding thankfully.

Meanwhile Mikey and Raphael passed over their sandwiches to their other two brothers, watching as they hungrily bit into them. Don passed over the bottle of water to Leo, who gave it to Raph to drink. Finally after Mike had treasured the sensation of the clean water pouring down his throat, he gave it back to Raph, who with the others' help passed it back to Phinehas.

"Gracias," he bowed and accepted the bottle from Donnie, drinking what was left of it. Once they were done and there was nothing left to feed on, they certainly didn't feel very full, but it was at least something compared to nothing.

* * *

An hour later, Mikey had already fallen asleep; his head leaned against the wall. Usually he was never one to check out before the rest of them, but being as he was so used to eating a lot of food, it really took it out of him when he wasn't allowed any.

Raphael obsessively stared at his five captors, who only once in a while looked up at him, a mocking grin plastered on their faces, as they soon returned to the Spanish conversation with each other.

Leo leaned his head to his right in order to talk to Donatello. "Think they'll take us back out in the desert tomorrow?" he wondered, keeping one eye on his enemies.

"I'm pretty sure they will," Don agreed, nodding slightly without looking at his brother. "Wherever we are right now, it's too insignificant to be the final stop. There has to be more to these guys than this underground cave."

Leonardo nodded, leaning his head against the wall. "We'll sleep in shifts," he decided. "Why don't you get some sleep and I'll take the first one."

"No," Don protested, turning to look at Leo. "I slept on the bus while Raph and you were awake. If anyone needs their sleep, it's you, Leo."

"I ain't sleepin'," Raph said, as he had obviously overheard their conversation. "No way in hell I'm closin' my eyes with these guys aroun'," he hissed, staring at Don.

"Raph," Leo said, turning to him with a stern look in his eyes. "This is not the time or place to play rebel. You don't know for how long we'll be walking without water tomorrow."

"Yeah well, that's my problem, ain't it?" Raph shot back, locking his eyes with Leonardo's.

"Look," Don said, trying to break them up. "What if Raph and I take first watch while you and Mike get some rest. Deal?" He patiently looked at his oldest brother, who quietly considered the idea before turning back to him.

"All right," Leo agreed. "Just make sure to wake us up in a few hours."

Donatello nodded, glancing at a grinning Raphael. Leo gave a final nod before he leaned his head against the cold wall and closed his eyes. He was surprised at how easy it was for him to fall asleep. He hadn't even realized he was tired.

"Ye should probably get some sleep, too," Raphael said, looking at the prisoner next to Donnie.

"No," Phinehas said, while nodding his head in appreciation. "I think I've gotten all the sleep I'll need for the next few days."

Don turned to look at him. "They drugged you, too?" he asked.

"Yeah, they shot me," Phinehas confirmed, looking over at the guards, noticing that two of them had fallen asleep. "Shot me and brought me to the desert. I've heard it's pretty common to bring people out here to kill 'em. What with this place being one huge sand-pit, I'm not surprised. Has to be hundreds of missing people lying buried out here."

"Well aren't _you_ Mr. The glass is half empty," Raphael commented, leaning back against the wall with a smile.

Don turned from his brother to the human on his right. "Whether that's true or not, they haven't brought us out here to kill us," he said.

"How do you figure?" Phinehas asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Cuz they woulda' done it already, that's why," Raph said, shifting his cuffs behind his shell to be able to look at the him. "Who are ya anyway? There has ta be some reason for these punks ta need ya alive."

"My name is Francisco," the man introduced himself. "I come form a small village outside of Puebla."

"Puebla?" Don questioned, narrowing his eyes in confusion.

"Yes," Francisco nodded. "It's in Mexico."

"Wait a minute," Raph said, thinking about something Francisco said earlier. "Yer name's Francisco? I thought those guys called ya somethin' else."

"Phinehas," Francisco confirmed, causing both turtles to nod. "Yes, it's Hebrew. It means 'Serpent's mouth.'"

"Why would they call you that?" Don wondered, trying to tie up the loose ends.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Francisco said, turning away from them with a faint smile.

"Try us," Raph said, referring to the fact that they were mutated turtles.

Francisco smiled. "Yes, I suppose nothing would surprise a bunch of talking tortugas."

"What does that mean?" Raph asked, narrowing his eyes at the recognition of the word their kidnappers had used several times. "Tortuga."

"It's 'turtle' in Spanish," Don said simply, looking at Raphael as if the answer had been obvious. Raph's eye ridges shot up in surprise.

"Si," Francisco confirmed, nodding at Donatello with enthusiasm. "Hablas español?" He then excitedly started talking in Spanish, confusing both turtles.

"Um, no," Donnie said, interrupting his rambling. "I only know that word.. and a couple of phrases."

"Oh," Francisco nodded, noticeably a little disappointed.

"So are ya gonna tell us what's up with that snake mouth thing?" Raphael reminded, eager to find out what kind of skeletons this guy hid in his closet.

"Of course," Francisco said, nodding apologetically. "He referred to my..." he paused to find the proper words, "..poisonous saliva."

"Wait?" Raphael said, leaning slightly over Leo's sleeping form as he eyed Francisco. "Did ya juz say 'poisonous'? As in lethal?"

"Yes and no," Francisco said, trying to explain the complexity of his being. "I do have poisonous saliva but it's not deadly. If coming in contact with it, and by contact I mean mouth to mouth, your body will reject it and you'll vomit."

"Like alcohol poisoning," Donatello said, staring into thin air.

"Yes, I guess it is," Francisco considered. "Only _my_ poison works a little faster than that. First time I kissed a girl and she threw up on me, I thought I was simply _that_ bad." He chuckled lightly at the memory. "Don't know how I've gotten three women to marry me.."

"That poison," Don said, turning back to Francisco. "Any reason that's why you're here?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Francisco nodded. "Although I don't know how they know about it? It hasn't exactly been in the paper."

"Yeah well, neither have we," Raphael added, glancing at Mikey who slept next to him

"If you do not mind me asking," Francisco said, looking in between his two new friends. "Where are you from?"

"New York," Raph answered, turning back to Francisco.

Don sent Raph an unimpressed glance. "I don't think that's what he meant, Raph."

"No," Francisco interrupted. "It was," he ensured them. "But please tell me what you thought I wanted to know."

Raph grinned confidently at his braniac brother before Don turned around to tell their new friend the story of how they came to be. He glanced at their kidnappers, only now realizing everyone had gone to sleep except for Carlos, his face hidden underneath the shadow of his cap.

"Well, long story short," Donnie said carefully, so his enemy wouldn't be able to hear him. "Mutation in result of a chemical accident."

Francisco nodded understandingly.

Donnie wouldn't have minded going further into the subject, explaining the uniqueness of their chromosomes in careful detail. But with the enemy only a couple of meters across from him, he figured the truth was safest kept with them.

* * *

Next morning Mike and Leo woke up their other two brothers as Esteban, the one guy who had been awake to keep an eye on them, woke up his four friends.

Raph and Don suspiciously sat up straight, keeping their eyes on their captors as they packed up their belongings to leave. It wasn't long after that that Pedro, the one who kept his head shaved, climbed up the ladder and opened the entrance, allowing the strong sun to reach inside the dark and cold hole they had been sleeping in. He dropped his bag to the ground and yelled for one of his friends.

Javier grabbed a hold of Francisco and forced him up on his feet. He climbed a few steps on the ladder and lifted him up towards Pedro, who grabbed him by his shoulders and brought him up to the hot surface, where the sun nearly hovered straight above him in the sky. It was almost noon.

Pedro flashed his gun inside his coat, as to warn his prisoner not to try anything, and reached back inside as Javier and Carlos held up Donatello for him. After all four turtles had been brought to the surface, Antonio put the bush back in its place, hiding the cave from the world, and grabbed a hold of Michelangelo, holding him by his lower arms.

Pedro, holding Leo with one arm, brought out a package of cigarettes and lit one up for himself with the other. He offered smokes to his friends; handing over his lighter to Antonio and Esteban who also smoked.

Mikey noticed the look on Phinehas' face as the three of them breathed in the smoke, assuming he too was a smoker.

Pedro also noticed the longing stare he got from the prisoner. "Don't think you're getting any, Phinehas," he said, sucking on the filter and walking up to the man in question, while still holding onto Leo with one of his hands. He stopped right in front of Francisco and blew the smoke onto his face, grinning sadistically. He then dropped the cigarette to his feet and stepped on it, even though there was plenty of it left, only to prove that he would rather waste it than give it to him.

Then, the turtles heard something they hadn't expected. Not even after spending the nigh in an underground cave. A black helicopter appeared in the horizon, and weird enough was, it was heading their way. It didn't take long before it hovered in the air above them, deafening their ears and covering their eyes with sand as it went down for landing, only fifteen meters away from them. With their hands cuffed behind their backs, none of them could remove the sand that stung in their eyes.

Once the helicopter was on the ground, they were able to inspect it more thoroughly. All details were necessary to them. It might tell them something about these guys and what they were up to. It was a large helicopter with two propellers attached on top of it. It looked very much like the ones they used in the military, except for that fact that it was painted with a shiny black color, one that reflected the rays on the burning sun.

Antonio and Esteban put out their cigarettes and grabbed a stronger hold of their prisoners, following their friends as they walked up to the helicopter, that had barely gotten to turn off the engine as they reached up to it. Someone slid the door open from inside, stepping out of the way to allow the guards inside with their prisoners. Mikey and Antonio were the first ones to enter, with Pedro and Leo stepping inside last. But as they were inside the helicopter they quickly noticed they weren't the only prisoners in it.

There was a half naked man sitting with his back against the wall, his skin red and his hair short and black, almost a deep blue black. He looked like he was a native taken straight out of the Rain Forest. Although while it was hard to tell what age he was, he looked to be around twenty somewhere.

Don silently wondered what his quirk had been for being brought here. To even think they would go to the Rain Forest to pick up their prisoners, all of a sudden it didn't seem so odd that they knew about the four talking turtles living in the sewers of New York City.

The guards pushed them down to the floor, their backs facing the back wall and closed the door behind them. There were no seats in the helicopter, only the floor to sit on. And there were no windows, apart from the ones up front. Naturally, the pilot needed his windows. It looked like the helicopter was used for storage, which meant there was a lot of room - something they had been living without ever since they were locked inside that van.

Pedro went over to talk to the pilot as the others met up with the two guards that had arrived with the helicopter. One of them sounded like he was from Australia while the other seemed Latin like the rest of them.

It didn't take long for the engine to start back up and before they knew it - they were lifting off the ground. Leonardo and Donnie glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing. It was a real shame the back of the helicopter didn't have any windows, otherwise they might have been able to figure out where exactly they were. But then, they suddenly realized it wouldn't matter.

Javier and Pedro, who sat across from them, with their backs against the wall that separated the cockpit from the passenger room, reached inside a black backpack Javier had carried, fetching more ammo; sedative they loaded their black handguns with. Although it seemed there was only room for one shot at a time.

They pointed the guns at Raphael and Francisco while smiling. Javier shot Francisco in the shoulder, enjoying as his face twisted in pain when the needle penetrated his skin.

Raphael held his stare on Pedro as he pulled the trigger and sent the drug into the left side of Raph's throat, as close to the main aorta as he could get. He felt the drug slipping into his blood and coursing through his veins. It felt much like when getting a shot a the doctor's office. Raph oddly realized to himself he hadn't actually done that, but he imagined it felt the same. Soon, he felt unconsciousness starting to grasp him, without him being able to resist it.

Pedro and Javier quickly reloaded their guns and shot Donatello and Leonardo in their arms. The last two injections were used for the native and Michelangelo, who got it in his right shoulder.

It barely took more than a minute before all of them were out, the needles still stuck to their limp bodies.


End file.
